As you can see from the above, Sweet Memories is being used to promote this year’s edition of Crouch End Festival. It is the UK’s biggest community arts festival, a volunteer-run event which takes place in North London, and GéNIA is very happy to be able to support it in this way.

The festival provides a platform for local artists of all varieties, including musicians, actors, designers, poets, painters, comedians… you get the idea! Grass roots level support of local artistic talent is an important part of any community, and it is also an important way of encouraging art that is innovative and new. As well as this, Crouch End Festival works to facilitate collaboration between artistic talents, a crucial dimension to any artist’s growth.

The festival doesn’t just help to develop artistic ties, it strengthens ties between the entire community that comes out to support it. Crouch End Festival has something to offer all age groups, and by bringing these people together, it makes the area stronger. It would be a strange community event if it didn’t try to get all of its community involved!

Historically, bringing communities together was one of the most important functions of art. It is wonderful to be able to contribute to a festival which still recognises this importance today.

If you haven’t seen it already, GéNIA’s latest trailer showcases three original compositions on her second EP: Sweet Memories, Mon Amour, and London-Paris. Even if you’ve heard the songs before, the video gives you a great view of GéNIA’s playing that you simply couldn’t get live.

The album is inspired by a cup of coffee, and this is perhaps most apparent on the first of the three tracks, Sweet Memories. It evokes a sense of nostalgia and calm, a sense that is familiar to all of us who like to sit in cafés and to watch the world go by. The second piece, Mon Amour, is slower and filled with more melancholy than the first, reminding us of how it feels to reminisce upon the past, and perhaps even upon what we have lost. This changes as we reach London-Paris; GéNIA’s music has departed from reflection and looks towards the future. It brings a sense of anticipation and possibility; the increase in tempo and dynamics also creating the feeling of the intent and purpose that comes with travel.

Also worth your attention: if you listen closely, you can hear GéNIA conjure up the effect of a chorus during London-Paris – the piano really starts to sound a little like the human voice!

You can now see a full performance of GéNIA’s composition ‘London-Paris’ on YouTube. It is footage from GéNIA’s concert in support of UNICEF in France last year.

‘London-Paris’ was written on the Eurostar, late on a cold, snowy night during Winter; GéNIA frequently made the trip between the two cities during a sabbatical taken in 2013. This particular performance of the piece is at a higher tempo than when she recorded it in the studio, which makes her right-hand triplet runs all the more formidable and impressive! Coupled with intensified dynamics, GéNIA gives this performance a distinctive character which it is worth your time to investigate.

If GéNIA’s dress caught your eye in the trailer for her latest album, you may be interested to know that it was designed for her, by the multi-award winning José Hendo whose work has featured at Fashion Weeks across the globe.

José Hendo’s work revolves around the principle of sustainable fashion. She does not waste material, and only uses it herself if it is sustainably produced – end-of-line, up-cycled, or organic. As well as remaining ever-conscious of her work’s impact on the environment, José seeks to raise awareness of the environmental effects of the fashion industry herself.

This dress designed for GéNIA, which has a wonderful red complexion, is of a traditional length when viewed from the front, but from behind it carries a shorter more contemporary line. It combines a respect for what we can learn from those before us with recognition of the need to change and evolve – a difficult but essential balance to strike.

The considered approach José Hendo brings to her work complements GéNIA’s own thoughtful style, both in composition and in performance, and brings yet another touch of class to her latest renditions.

Russian virtuoso pianist and composer GéNIA is pleased to announce the release of her new EP, Dreams of Today, Thoughts of Tomorrow Vol.2 on 14 December 2014. The EP contains 6 solo piano compositions, and is GéNIAs sophomore EP continuing on from Dreams of Today, Thoughts of Tomorrow Vol.1 released in March 2014.

Composed mainly in London, GéNIA’s sophomore EP contains 6 pieces inspired by coffee culture. These compositions have been performed at various concert halls in London and other European cultural hotspots. I wanted to convey a feeling through my music, one that people experience while having a simple cup of coffee. For some a cup of coffee becomes fundamental and the most important first drink of the day. We often think about our past, present or build plans and hopes for the future, whilst having this cup. For a modern person it becomes a modern day meditation, says GéNIA.

The EP was recorded at Master Chord Studio in London with engineer Raoul Terzi, on a beautiful Steinway & Sons Concert Grand Piano and produced by Hayden Parsey before being mastered at Metropolis Studios by Grammy award winning engineer Tim Young (The Beatles, Michael Nyman, Massive Attack).

GèNIA will be performing a series of concerts at Caffè Nero Heathrow Terminal 2, one of the largest coffee houses in the world, to launch the EP on 14th and 28th December. GéNIA has also been nominated as Caffè Neros classical artist of the month.